Entertainment Editor-at-Large, Los Angeles

Cashing in on its popularity with live events ... Dr Who. Photo: Supplied

AS COMMERCIAL pressure forces production companies and broadcasters to look for dollars outside the six sides of a traditional TV set, popular programs are stepping into the real world and onto the stage.

A handful of companies involved in the local television market, including BBC Worldwide, Shine Australia and FremantleMedia, are sinking millions of dollars into live-action spin-offs to their most powerful TV brands. And the move is paying dividends.

''The nature of how people consume programming content and want to get involved with brands is changing, whether that is live events, consumer products, online activity or gaming,'' said Helen Pendlebury, BBC Worldwide's head of commercial. ''We can see that it creates revenue, but it's also an opportunity to keep a brand alive, and engaged outside the broadcast period.''

Going live ... The X Factor. Photo: Supplied

Ms Pendlebury oversees a range of off-screen activities, notably live events themed around Top Gear, Walking With Dinosaurs and a series of Doctor Who concert recitals planned for the Opera House in December.

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The production company Fremantle has built TV program-themed live events such as Grand Designs Live, QI Live and is developing a live tour based on The X Factor, to be announced this week.

In the US, Fremantle produces The Price is Right Live and America's Got Talent Live.

''The template is there, we're just looking for brands in our portfolio that we can commercialise in the live space,'' Fremantle's Dustin Lockett said.

Shine Australia's live events arm, Shine 360°, is responsible for the MasterChef Live event, and the MasterChef Dining event, ''pop-up'' restaurant and bar in Sydney which featured aspiring chefs who had appeared on the show.

While some events, such as those which tap into big TV franchises like The X Factor and Top Gear, have mainstream appeal, Mr Lockett says there is still enormous commercial potential for smaller TV programs which have powerful niche appeal, such as Grand Designs and QI.

Mr Lockett said production companies hoping to exploit intellectual property look for obvious indicators, such as the size of a show's fan base and the commercial potential they represent, but also ''a lot deeper, at how engaged the fan base is''.

In the case of one coming event, Roller Derby Xtreme, Fremantle is hoping to use the live event as a way of ''reverse engineering'' a saleable TV product. ''We're taking the live event approach to see if something comes out of it,'' Mr Lockett said.

A half-hour TV special has already aired on Nine and Go!. Mr Lockett said the tour will be filmed and the result will be a one-hour special that Fremantle is hoping to use as a pilot. ''If something comes out of it, that's fantastic,'' he said.

The audience interaction, said Ms Pendlebury, is powerful.

''Some people like to sit back and enjoy it as an experience they passively view, but for the most part, when we do Strictly Come Dancing in the UK, for example, the experience of seeing the show live, of being able to engage with it, is compelling,'' she said. ''You can see the excitement.''